I subscribe to a news letter that sends me links to Red Sox related articles. It's one of the things I scan for Daily Links. Today's edition came without any articles. It just contained a note. "Well, I waited and waited all morning long to find worthy links and there just aren't any! Tough day for Red Sox news of any sort." Seminal Yankees blog The Pinstriped Bible is in the same boat. They posted just three times since December 7th and, here's the funny part, one of those posts was about the Red Sox. When the richest team in the game lies docile you know there just isn't much going on.
Part of the reason there isn't much to discuss is due to what drives the discussion around this time of year. Namely, rumors. Rumors of where players are going to go are driven to a small extent by rampant speculation, name recognition, and bling factor, but mostly team need drives what we read about on sites like MLB Trade Rumors. The bigger a team's needs are, the sexier the rumors surrounding those needs. When a team has few openings with the ones that exist being on the unimportant side of things, then we get a news blackout period much like what Red Sox fans are experiencing now.
Sure, there are issues around the margins -- fourth and fifth starter come to mind -- but beyond those relatively unimportant items, there isn't much need. The team could use a closer but they don't have to have one. They could maybe use a right fielder, but they'll be fine if they don't sign anyone. That taken with the team's payroll obligations are pesticide to the termites that are baseball rumors.
So that's where we stand. There just isn't much to report. Sorry about that.
We'll be back tomorrow with some interesting content regardless of what happens. Promise.